Arias Pistons 12.5:1 Compression 82mm Bore Honda B-series on 2040-parts.com

Former auction-house owner Kruse facing Pennsylvania theft charge

Former auction house owner Dean Kruse surrendered to northern Indiana authorities last week to face a theft charge in Pennsylvania, where he is accused of failing to pay a man $38,000 for selling an antique hearse. The Associated Press, citing The Herald Republican of Angola, Ind., said that Kruse, 69, was released Aug. 31 from the DeKalb County Jail in Auburn, Ind., after posting a $5,000 bond.

Driven: BMW i8

When BMW unveiled the Vision EfficientDynamics concept at the 2009 Frankfurt motor show, we wrote: "for our money, it's the first time a major carmaker has really attempted to communicate ‘green' technology in an aesthetic sense." Fast-forward five years and we've swapped the show halls of the IAA for a beauty spot on the north-west coast of Scotland. And, while the car's name has changed to i8, our sentiment towards this genre- and era-defining car remains. Admittedly the production car's design execution hasn't received the universal praise of its concept forebears, but, on a remote outpost of the British Isles, a Protonic Blue i8 couldn't look more exotic.

Mark Vaughn: We’ll always have Vegas

There were a few bare spots on the floor of the Consumer Electronics Show this year, spots that in previous years had been jammed sardine-like with myriad Taiwanese makers of Hello Kitty knockoff cell phone cozies and electronic barking dogs, but the show this year was nonetheless pretty well attended. Besides, for those working their way upstream through the aisles like so many digitally trained trout, the empty spots left by exhibitors that pulled out were like refreshing mountain meadows or little piazzas in crowded Italian cities. Show management stocked the open spots with cushy couches, too, on which many a jet-lagged showgoer snoozed.